International Champions Cup · History

The International Champions Cup (ICC) was a pre-season club football tournament played every summer from 2013 to 2019. The first edition ran from 27 July to 7 August 2013. The final was at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida, where Real Madrid beat Chelsea 3-1 with a goal from Marcelo and two from Cristiano Ronaldo. Ramires scored for the London side. The tournament was owned and run by Relevent Sports Group, a company founded in 2012 by Stephen Ross and Matt Higgins. It replaced the World Football Challenge, which had been played from 2009 to 2012.

The 2013 format

Eight teams took part in 2013. Chelsea and Everton came from England, Milan, Inter and Juventus from Italy, and Real Madrid and Valencia from Spain. The eighth was LA Galaxy of the United States. They were split into an Eastern and a Western group, and matches were played at seven stadiums. These included Mestalla in Valencia, AT&T Park in San Francisco, Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. The tournament closed with placement matches. On 6 August 2013 Valencia beat Everton 1-0 in Miami Gardens to finish fifth, with a goal from Míchel in the 52nd minute. Guinness was title sponsor of the first two editions.

Michigan Stadium and Manchester United’s title (2014)

The 2014 edition again had eight teams, but it changed format: round-robin groups that were not based on geography, then a final. Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United represented England. Milan, Inter and Roma came from Italy, and Olympiacos and Real Madrid completed the field. The tournament ran from 24 July to 4 August. On 2 August, at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Manchester United beat Real Madrid 3-1 in front of 109,318 spectators, the largest crowd recorded for a football match in the United States. Two days later in Miami Gardens, United beat Liverpool 3-1 in the final. Manchester City’s Stevan Jovetić was top scorer with five goals.

Australia, China and Singapore (2015-2017)

From 2015 the ICC was split into regional editions. The main one, for North America and Europe, brought together ten clubs between 11 July and 5 August 2015. Paris Saint-Germain won it for their first title. Real Madrid won the other two editions that summer. The Australian edition was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Manchester City and Roma. The Chinese edition was against Milan and Inter in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Shanghai. In 2016 Paris Saint-Germain won the North America and Europe edition again and Juventus won in Australia. The Chinese edition ended without a winner after a match was cancelled. In 2017 Singapore replaced Australia, and Inter won there by beating Chelsea and Bayern Munich, their first ICC title. On 29 July 2017 Barcelona beat Real Madrid 3-2 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens before 66,014 people. It was the second Clásico played outside Spain. Barcelona won all three of their games to take the US edition.

One table and a final edition (2018-2019)

In 2018 the competition put 18 clubs in a single table. Matches were played between 20 July and 11 August in nine countries: Austria, England, France, Italy, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Singapore, Spain and the United States. Tottenham Hotspur won the title and Borussia Dortmund finished second. The same year saw the launch of the Women’s International Champions Cup and of ICC Futures, a youth tournament that Bayern Munich won against Chelsea. The 2019 edition was cut to twelve teams and ran from 16 July to 10 August. Guadalajara was the only club from outside Europe. On 26 July 2019 Atlético Madrid beat Real Madrid 7-3 at MetLife Stadium in front of 57,714 fans. Benfica won the trophy with three wins and nine points. Atlético Madrid and Manchester United finished behind them with eight points each.

Cancellation in 2020

Relevent Sports called off the 2020 men’s edition on 10 April 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. It said there was no clarity on when restrictions would be lifted and that the international calendar was still unsettled. A Barcelona–Real Madrid match had been planned for that summer. The company said it intended to return to the United States and Asia in 2021, but the men’s tournament was never played again. Over its seven editions Real Madrid won the most titles, three, and Spain was the country with the most titles, four. The women’s competition continued after the men’s event ended, with editions in 2021 and 2022.